Margaret Kerr Boyland was a WASP (Women’s Airforce Service Pilots) during World War II and never questioned why she and her fellow WASPs got no federal benefits for their service, until the 1970s. She helped lead a successful lobbying effort for veteran benefits. She died in Nov. 2010.

Charles H. Kaman founded Kaman Aerospace in his mother’s garage that is now a $1.2 billion company making parts for helicopters and fixed-wing aircraft. He is credited with the first gas turbine-powered helicopter, and the first remotely controlled helicopter. He died in January.

Dr. Charles Herbert Flowers was a member of the Tuskegee Airmen and was honored when Charles Herbert Flowers High School in Springdale, Md., was named after him. He became a satellite controller and later a personnel manager (he wrote Training the Best) for a contractor at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center. He died in January.